Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) proposed a measure on the Assembly floor this week that would require a two-thirds vote of the house for Messages of Necessity to be accepted when issued by the governor.

“Too often, controversial measures are rushed through the legislative process in the middle of the night without adhering to the constitutionally-mandated, three-day ‘aging’ process,” Hawley said. “This is the people’s government and they have a right to know what bills are being passed with a high level of transparency.”

Legislation is usually subject to an “aging” period of three days before it can be voted on. However, Messages of Necessity are issued by the governor to forgo this process and rush a vote on important and/or controversial legislation, as was done with the SAFE Act.

“Messages of Necessity rob the public of the right to know what’s in a bill as was the case when the unconstitutional SAFE Act was rammed through the Legislature leaving many lawmakers no time to actually read the legislation that was to be voted upon,” Hawley continued.

“I am disappointed that this and over a dozen other common-sense ethics reforms were voted down by New York City Democrats. Our citizens deserve better.”

Assemblyman Hawley represents the 139th District, which consists of Genesee, Orleans and parts of Monroe County. For more information, please visit Assemblyman Hawley’s Official Website.

Is this guy for real???? A day after 17 people lost their lives in Florida to a senseless school shooting he is going to go on about how bad the SAFE Act is? Nice timing Hawley. At least you could wait for the bodies to become cold.

Chismar, you need to do some homework before speaking. Hawley proposed his measure on Feb 13, more than a day before the Parkland, FL shooting news broke. BTW, people die, and it's usually sad, sometimes tragic, sometimes horrific, but life goes on.